


Somewhere in Between

by Just_Another_Day



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Complicated Relationships, Drama, Gen, Nicaise (Captive Prince) Lives, Rebellious teenager
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-20 18:38:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18998251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_Another_Day/pseuds/Just_Another_Day
Summary: Nikandros caught a flash of the boy's features from between the soldiers' broad shoulders. It was a very familiar face.





	Somewhere in Between

**Author's Note:**

> By virtue of the fact that this contains Nicaise, canon-typical warnings sort of apply by implication, but there aren't really any direct references to CSA or similar aspects, so I'm not tagging it. Let me know if you think I made the wrong call on this, of course.

Nikandros could see a group of soldiers gathered around a boy who was at least a head shorter than all of them, one of them restraining him with a tight grip on the boy's upper arm while the others circled him. Nikandros might almost have written it off as them having simply caught a thieving street urchin from the village or some other justifiable explanation. But then Nikandros caught a flash of the boy's features from between the soldiers' broad shoulders.

It was a very familiar face.

Not again.

This was hardly the first time Nikandros had to bail the boy out of trouble, and he acknowledged that he probably wouldn't be the last either. But that didn't make it any less frustrating every time it happened.

Thankfully, Nikandros wouldn't need to go through the effort of drawing his sword on half a dozen Veretian soldiers. These men might not be directly under his command, but even among the Veretians, there wasn't a soldier currently in Delpha who couldn't recognise Nikandros as Kyros. And even if not all of them _wanted_ to acknowledge his authority – the alliance was still very much a work in progress in many ways – they'd still be unlikely to directly defy him.

Even before Nikandros announced himself, the first soldier who happened to see Nikandros coming looked like he was considering bolting for his life. Either he saw what were probably very apparent signs of anger on Nikandros's face and came to the right conclusion that it was being directed at them for some reason, or these idiots already knew that they were in the wrong without Nikandros having to actually point it out for them. They'd probably just been hoping not to be caught at it, Nikandros suspected. Too bad for them.

They were actually lucky it was Nikandros who'd caught them, as these things went. If it had been Laurent instead, they could expect worse than a day in the stocks or a few stripes across their backs, Nikandros was sure.

"Is your employer aware you're harassing King Laurent's pet?" Nikandros called out. 

Whatever Laurent might say about Nikandros's Veretian pronunciation, their reactions suggested that they understood his meaning clearly enough. So if they'd thought they were just teasing some random adolescent boy, or even some lesser Lord's pet who wouldn't be believed if he reported them, they obviously understood their position far better now. That much showed in their almost fearful expressions.

The only one willing to speak in response to Nikandros's question was, of course, Nicaise. "Who asked you?" he snapped. 

Trust Nicaise to be so stubborn that he wouldn't want to accept Nikandros's help even though only a moment ago it had been clear through his tense posture and bared teeth that he didn't want to be in this position, and that he could certainly _use_ the help.

Nikandros had to repress the urge to just swoop in and grab Nicaise around the waist and sling him (kicking and screaming, no doubt) over Nikandros's shoulder to get Nicaise out of the clearly less than ideal situation he'd been cornered in. But Nikandros knew how much (or how little) Nicaise would appreciate that. He really didn't feel like spending the entirety of the next month dealing with Nicaise's spiteful version of payback for 'underestimating' his ability to deal with things himself. Or with Laurent's barely concealed mockery when he discovered that Nikandros had managed to piss off Nicaise _yet again_ despite definitely knowing better than that by now.

Nikandros didn't have to resort to that, though, for the soldiers scattered instead. As if that would save them from punishment. Quite the opposite; now it _would_ be Laurent who got to determine how to deal with them after all. Nikandros might now know who they were on sight, but Laurent would be able to track them down easily enough. There wasn't much of anything that Laurent's people couldn't find out for him. Usually Nikandros wouldn't approve of Laurent spying on his own subjects, but for once he couldn't really object.

When he was left alone with Nicaise, Nikandros asked, "When are you going to learn not to pick fights that you can't win?"

"What makes you think I started it?" 

"Because I know you."

Nicaise could sound as indignant as he liked about it, but Nikandros wouldn't for a second believe that he hadn't played his own part in getting himself into trouble today, just as he had every other time he'd ended up in a scuffle (or would have if someone – usually Nikandros – hadn't stopped it before it could get that far). That didn't excuse the soldiers for their actions at all, of course, but it would still be nice if Nicaise would show just a little bit of caution on his own behalf instead of relying on Nikandros to constantly clean up after him.

"They deserved it," was all Nicaise would say to justify himself when it was clear that Nikandros wasn't going to believe his denials. It sounded matter-of-fact rather than defensive or petty, as Nikandros would have expected if Nicaise were lying.

Which meant that they'd either said something about Nicaise himself that would have had Nikandros drawing his sword on them after all, or they'd said something derisive about Laurent. Nikandros wasn't sure he could fault Nicaise too much if that were the case; it would have been a bit hypocritical, considering how often Nikandros himself had started fights on Damen's behalf when they'd been younger.

But still: "Why don't you ever just tell people you're Laurent's pet? They wouldn't dare to lay hands on you like that then."

Unless, Nikandros thought when Nicaise pulled a face but refused to say anything, Nicaise actually _had_ tried to claim as much. Maybe not today, necessarily, but at least during some of those previous run-ins that Nikandros had had to more or less rescue him from. If so, it was clear he hadn't been believed. That would have been quite the blow to Nicaise's pride. 

But with the way Nicaise presented himself now, not dressed at all like the typical pets, it wasn't difficult to see why they might not have accepted that he was a pet at all. Laurent didn't exactly widely broadcast that he'd taken on a pet either. And As Nikandros understood it, Laurent had established a very particular reputation among the Veretians in years past, so for anyone who didn't know about the nature of Laurent and Nicaise's relationship, and especially for those who had arrived at the new capital recently enough to be unaware of the minutiae of the court, the idea of Laurent with _any_ pet – let alone an entitled fifteen-year-old brat – would probably seem laughable.

The King's slaves, before Damen had eschewed them and before all the slaves had then been freed, had borne a pin that signalled themselves as such exactly so that no one could doubt who their master was. Nikandros couldn't imagine why the Veretian nobility hadn't come up with a similar system for their pets. He couldn't imagine that Nicaise would protest wearing a starburst symbol if it were made of gold.

The idea of Nicaise being treated like a slave in any way bothered Nikandros a little, though. Nikandros couldn't quite put his finger on why that was. Nikandros knew it would actually be only for show – Laurent and Nicaise were about as far from a typical master-slave pair as it was possible to be – but it still didn't sit well with him.

But without such an obvious sign to declare Nicaise completely off-limits no matter what he said or did, Nikandros supposed that he was probably going to have to keep retrieving Nicaise from dicey situations. And that Nikandros was going to have to keep a closer eye on Nicaise as a result.

"Come on," Nikandros all but sighed. "We'd better go report this to Laurent."

"We? I can do that myself," said Nicaise. "I don't need you to hold my hand and escort me like a child."

"Maybe not. But do you think I don't want to be there to hear what Laurent has planned for those idiots after they not only hurt you but ran off like cowards?"

A strange expression flickered over Nicaise's face before he quickly seemed to repress it. Nikandros would almost have called it pleasure, if he thought Nicaise were properly capable of that emotion.

Whatever his reaction, Nicaise ultimately fell into step beside Nikandros without further complaint. 

And if Nicaise leaned in ever-so-slightly closer to Nikandros the next time they passed a group of guards on the way, Nikandros didn't call him out on it.


End file.
